how i met your father: our love story, part vii

catch up with the rest of the story here:
part i part iv

part ii part v

part iii part vi

there’s no way that was michael, i thought, and went about my lazy saturday. why on earth would he be here? almost three hours from his school?

a little while later, the phone rang. it was my roommate sarah. um, katherine, she said in a hushed whisper. you’re never going to guess who i just talked to. she was wrong. at this point, i knew mandy and sarah couldn’t both be mistaken.

it turned out that michael had chauffeured his sister to a voice audition to our music school. while she was busy singing, we picnicked with subway sandwiches on the floor of our university’s auditorium. the singing took place in another building and so the auditorium was quiet.

we talked about little of importance but enjoyed being together. imagining life on the stage in front of us and talking about where life would take each of us.

the next several weeks were like that, random encounters with this man. a group of my friends, including michael, came to our school to watch another friend perform in a musical. my roommate sarah, who practically knew michael’s life-story as much as i talked about him, deserved a grammy for the “naive” performance she gave as she interacted with him that afternoon. really?! you’ve been to finland, too?

we also happened to be home at the same time a couple weeks in a row. i could no longer deny that i still really liked this man. besides, i wasn’t fooling anyone but myself.

i was preparing to graduate and trying to decide what i wanted to do with the next several years of my life. through a random series of events, i decided to take the opportunity to go to manila, philippines for two years with the navigators. our team’s plan was to leave in october.

graduation was especially emotional for me. i was honored with the opportunity to speak at our senior chapel and have lunch with our university president. several of my graduating friends and i pulled a prank on our major department’s office. i had fun attending parties for my friends. and, somehow also managed time to study for finals and pack my belongings.

all three of my roommates were about to be married and knew a little about where life would take them. i’d invested four years of my life at this school and suddenly, without someone to share it with, wondered if i’d made a difference. i cried a lot as we moved our furniture and our apartment again became four empty walls.

i moved back to my parents’ house and settled into their spare bedroom. between preparing to leave for two years, i spent a lot of time with my friends. and, as a result, michael.

the phone call came after a week when we’d seen each other almost every day. michael wanted to know if he could come over to my parents’ house later that night. when he arrived, he convinced me to drive three miles down the road to the dairy queen, which i knew was closed. we sat on a picnic bench and ate icecream michael had brought in a cooler from his house.

i don’t remember much about that night, but i remember the emotions. i was giddy. excited. nervous. what was so important to say that he’d drive 30 minutes at 10pm to say it? we sat under the stars for a long time that night, wondering what would come of our relationship.

i still like you, he said. and if you’ll give me a chance, i’d like to do things right this time.

but i was planning to move 8000 miles away in less than four months. were we really ready try again? what would my move mean to our relationship?

we didn’t have answers to those questions. but, still being young, we held hands. and jumped.